FRIDAY PDB – A shrunken, dysfunctional Navy is a threat to national security – Navy’s capacity to wage war hindered by maintenance, shipyard problems, GAO finds. The U.S. bulwark in any armed conflict with China, suffers from failures in mission readiness that include maintenance backlogs, decaying shipyards and crew fatigue and shortages, the Government Accountability Office said.
The Navy is poorly positioned to fully repair its fighting fleet of warships damaged in future high-end battles. The GAO found that the Navy would struggle if conflict erupted and several ships sustained sufficient battle damage that ships’ crews couldn’t repair.
“It could handle a single battle damage event, but it is uncertain how the Navy might handle multiple simultaneous or near-simultaneous events.”
MEANWHILE – IT NEEDS MORE SHIPS! – Navy considering extending USS Dwight D. Eisenhower past 2027. It may extend the life of the nuke carrier (CVN-69) beyond its planned inactivation date.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense stories.
Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DAILY BRIEFING – the PDB:
PENTAGON WOKE WATCH
AS I WROTE ABOUT YESTERDAY – Drag queen sailor used by Navy to recruit draws Republican ire. The Navy’s appointment of an active-duty drag queen to boost recruitment is drawing backlash from GOP senators who say the sailor promoted the use of Chinese-owned social media and inappropriately represented the service.
NO TAXPAYER-FUNDED ABORTIONS – Catholic bishop of military personnel takes shot at VA abortion policy. The Catholic clergyman who oversees military personnel and their families took aim at Team Biden’s abortion policies in a pastoral letter released Friday.
POLITICS
FROM BAD TO WORSE? – Biden is expected to tap Air Force chief to be nation’s next top military officer. If confirmed, Gen. C.Q. Brown would succeed Gen. Mark Milley as Joint Chiefs chair.
NATIONAL SECURITY
Pentagon chief AI officer ‘scared to death’ of potential for AI in disinformation. “Here’s my biggest fear about ChatGPT,” he said. “It has been trained to express itself in a fluent manner. It speaks fluently and authoritatively. So, you believe it even when it’s wrong… And that means it is a perfect tool for disinformation…”
Russia’s gains in the great Arctic race. In 2007, a ceremonial (titanium) Russian flag was planted on the seabed at the North Pole. The then Canadian Foreign Minister quipped “this isn’t the 15th century; you can’t go around the world and just plant flags.”
HOMELAND SECURITY
MAYBE THESE FEW DESERVED THEIR CONVICTIONS – MAYBE NOT – BUT THEY ARE A TINY FRACTION OF THE HUNDREDS OF OTHERS ‘OVERCHARGED’ BY DOJ – Veterans found guilty of seditious conspiracy in US Capitol attack.
Four members of the Proud Boys, three of whom have military backgrounds, were convicted Thursday of a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol – a significant milestone in the Jan. 6, 2021, cases.
CHINA THREAT
FACING CHINA – Fight the base drills keep Marines on home front sharp against modern threats. In the next major conflict, the U.S. military sees Marines and other U.S. forces deployed across the Indo-Pacific and facing an agile, tech-savvy and equally capable enemy.
RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR
Russia behind purported drone ‘attack’ on Kremlin, Lithuanian defense minister says. “I believe … that it’s a Russian job,” he said in an interview in Washington.
Zelenskyy wants Putin trial; Russia accuses US on drones. Ukraine and Russia pressed their wartime rhetoric Thursday, with the Ukrainian president expressing confidence that Vladimir Putin would be convicted of war crimes, and the Kremlin alleging that the U.S. was behind an “assassination attempt against the Russian leader.”
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 436. Russia launched new air raids on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as well as cities including Odesa and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian air defenses reportedly shot down 18 out of 24 Russian drones.
Wagner Group boss says he will pull troops out of Bakhmut. He has threatened to withdraw his troops from the Ukrainian city by Wednesday, in a row over ammunition.
IRAN THREAT
WEAK BIDEN – Iran may continue tanker seizures despite increased focus from US Navy. U.S. military intervention is unlikely should Iran seize yet another oil tanker, but Washington is eager to demonstrate to Persian Gulf countries that it remains a force in the region.
Now is the time to integrate Mideast air defenses. In September 2019, a swarm of Iranian drones and cruise missiles temporarily took half of Saudi oil production offline. Four months later, a barrage of missiles obliterated a base in Iraq, wounding more than 100 U.S. troops.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
WHAT OTHER PATHWAYS? – US, Mexico agree on tighter immigration policies at border. The new immigration policies are meant to deter illegal border crossings while also opening up ‘other pathways’ ahead of an expected increase in migrants following the end of Title 42 next week.
Role of US troops in Sudan to shift as Biden administration sees no quick end to fighting. The Pentagon’s help in evacuating U.S. citizens from Sudan is changing as the State Department’s mission changes.
Nigerian air base upgrade part of $500 million US sale to bolster security. Millions of dollars in upgrades to Kainji Air Base along with new, American-built attack aircraft will boost the capabilities of Africa’s most populous country in fighting extremists.
US MILITARY
Pentagon to spend up to $7.2 billion on combat-proven Javelin anti-tank missiles. It plans to buy a lot of Javelin missiles for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and international customers over the next three years.
END of PDB
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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That’s because the worst President in USA history {airhead Biden} wants to give the US to China.
Fleet not updated save new subs & Gerald Ford carrier
Update shore bases alone
Or Lose
The Navy bigwigs are too busy drinking Bud Light and having drag queens trying to recruit enlistees.
Yes. After they ran the real military out.
That was that anti-America obama. He fired all the real military leaders and put politicians in their place. We better hope we don’t get into another shooting war any time soon because if we do, and we still have the left wing liberals holding the white house, the house and the senate, we are doomed to lose. The Biden handlers are making sure of that. .We need to purge all of them in our government, or we will lose our constitutional republic.
Quid Pro Joe Xiden and the DOD Top BrASS are traitors intentionally weakening the US Military.
The total COMBINED US ship building capacity is exceed by ONE(1) Chinese Yard. We cannot build enough Military or Warships at the same time. WE cannot repair and new-build at the same time. The skills to bulid a warship are almost non-existant. There are not enough Merchant Seaman to fully man the Ready Reserve Fleet – which consists of ships well over 20 years of age. Add all that together and ask then if we can fight the Chinese 3000 miles away with the Fleet we currently posses.